


the red and the white and the blue'll come through!

by stars_inthe_sky



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Awesome Howling Commandos, Canon - Cartoon, Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Civil War Team Captain America, Gen, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-10 23:23:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15302316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stars_inthe_sky/pseuds/stars_inthe_sky
Summary: Bucky finds out about the cartoon adventures of Captain America and the Howling Commandos. The present-day Team Cap apologizes for nothing.





	the red and the white and the blue'll come through!

**Author's Note:**

> [Red](https://archiveofourown.org/users/red_b_rackham/profile) said I had to fic [these tags](https://stars-inthe-sky.tumblr.com/post/171879047132/marveladdicts-wich-bucky-am-i-talking-to-your), so I did. 
> 
> Thanks to her and to [Lex](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilostmyshoe/profile) for their top-notch beta work, now and always.

Everybody takes turns suiting up and keeping watch—Wanda changes in the van—and they’re off to Leipzig inside of ten minutes. Steve takes the wheel with Sam riding shotgun; Bucky very deliberately sits directly behind Steve, leaving Scott and Wanda to clamber into the backseat while Clint settles nonchalantly alongside Bucky.

They ride in tense silence for a few minutes, Steve taking extra care to follow every traffic law while avoiding main thoroughfares with heavier surveillance, before Scott says, “So…you’re really Bucky Barnes? Like, the Kid Commando?”

Bucky blinks and slowly half-turns to stare at him. “I’m Bucky, but…what?”

“ _Finally_ ,” Clint laughs. “Someone else who grew up on those cartoons!”

“Cartoons?” Bucky asks uneasily.

Scotts nods vigorously. “Yeah, exactly, thank you! I mean, I knew that show wasn’t, like, historically accurate, but even so…”

“Wait, so, who was your fave, man?” Clint swings a leg onto his seat and turns to face Scott, nearly kneeing Bucky in the process.

“Don’t answer that,” says Steve.

Clint ignores him. “Can’t say Cap, everyone knows only dorks say him.”

“Hey!” Steve protests at the same time Sam says, “Duh.”

“Really?” Clint sounds vaguely amused. “Haven’t you guys been running around committing felonies together for, what, two years and counting?”

Sam shrugs. “Yeah, but we’ve already been over this, and Steve’s decided not to be offended that I was _obviously_ all-in on Gabe Jones back in the day.”

“That was before I knew you _could_ have picked me!” It’s a testament to everything Steve Rogers is that the speed and direction of the car do not change in the slightest, even as his voice hits a high note. Bucky chuckles.

“You were _frozen_ in the _Arctic_ , man,” Sam reminds him. “It’s not like I knew we were gonna start committing superhero treason together on the regular when I was _ten_.”

Steve grumbles but manages a good-natured smile.

“I always liked Dernier,” Scott announces. “I guess the cartoons made stuff up, but he always had the seriously creative explosions. Big inspiration.”

“I thought you just got little and talked to bugs, Tic Tac,” Sam says. Bucky’s eyes go wide, which he promptly tries to hide as Sam turns around again.

Scott huffs. “I have a _master’s_ in electrical engineering! Well, and a burglary record. But also a master’s!”

“What about you, Wanda?” Clint asks. “Or did they not show those cartoons in Sokovia?”

Wanda, who had been staring out the window, startles to attention. “No, no cartoons. But we learned about the Howling Commandos in school. My brother always liked Mr. Falsworth—so I did, too.”

“Really? Because Britain was one of the Allies, or…?” Steve sounds surprised.

“No, no,” she says with a snort. “We just thought his hat was funny. And Pietro tried to grow the mustache once.”

“Fair enough,” Sam admits. “Barton?”

“Oh, Kid Commando Bucky Barnes, all the way.”

“Really?”

“Hell yeah,” Clint grins, turning to Bucky for a reaction and getting only a raised eyebrow. “I mean, I knew the cartoons were fucking with your actual age, and there’s no way _that_ uniform existed in real life. But, you know, fellow sniper!”

“What—what uniform?” Bucky asks uneasily. “They gave me a fucking peacoat. The most interesting thing about it was that the buttons were a pain in the ass.”

Steve cuts in, “You don’t want to know,” while the others hoot.

“Oh, dude,” Clint says, pulling out his phone to search for a picture. “You know I grew up in the circus, right? So we had this whole insane Captain America routine when I was maybe fifteen—”

“The circus?” Steve interrupts at the same time Sam asks, “A what routine now?”

Clint grins. “Like, _truly_ nuts. Cap was played by a literal dancing monkey—wait, no, Bobo rode a unicycle. Close enough. Anyway, they had all these grown-up guys playing the different Commandoes—which, in retrospect, got _super_ racist in places…”

“Did Dum Dum Dugan really have that, like, leprechaun-Irish accent?” Scott asks.

“No, but he was from Boston, so he’d probably have loved it,” Steve admits. Bucky nods in agreement, then glances back at Clint.

“ _Anyway_ ,” Clint continues. “I got to be in the act ‘cause I was the right age for the Kid Commando. And my trick shots work better from a distance. And the costume fit.”

Sam gasps theatrically. “ _No_. Like with the domino mask and the red tights and—”

Clint grins. “Hot pants and all. Here ya go.” Bucky looks like his brain might have short-circuited again, but he takes Clint’s proffered phone, which features the Wikipedia entry for his animated self.

“Okay, guys, I feel like I need to remind you that’s he’s older than _I_ am and didn’t…” Steve begins, but he stops talking when Bucky outright snorts.

Still staring at Clint’s phone, Bucky starts shaking with helpless laughter. “What the…actual _hell_?” Steve can’t suppress his own laughter at that, and the mood is contagious, even given the situation ahead of them.

Only Sam manages to keep a straight enough face to add, “I am _so_ glad that that’s how pop culture remembers you. They really captured your essence.”

**Author's Note:**

> The [title](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dWIPUuTPB4) comes from the actual Captain America cartoon, which aired in 1966 as part of the [Marvel Super Heroes series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marvel_Super_Heroes). It featured a teenaged Bucky Barnes (tights and all), although not the rest of the Commandos—and the comics’ Commandos lineup is different than the movie iteration anyway. 
> 
> That said, the cartoon _did_ also feature Hawkeye in his classic togs, so Clint should probably be careful about whose ridiculous getups he rags on.


End file.
